The present invention relates to an applicator device for injecting additives into the soil, and more particularly relates to a manually operable device for safely adding chemicals such as fertilizer, weed killers, insecticides and the like into the soil.
Devices for applying additives directly into the soil are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,979,541 of Gunn issued Nov. 6, 1934 describes and illustrates a fertilizer spreader, in which fertilizer, from a cart-mounted tank, flows by gravity feed into a valve and through holes in a distributor plate positioned on the surface of the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 2,505,174 of Daniels issued Apr. 25, 1950 describes and illustrates a root feeding device having a pointed, hollow rod with outlets at the point, fed by a valve at the top of the rod. Fertilizer capsules are placed in the valve. When the device is connected to a hose, with the point of the rod injected into the soil to the roots of a plant, water passes through the valve, draws fertilizer from the capsules and carries the fertilizer to the roots. U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,334 of Synder issued July 7, 1959 teaches a somewhat similar construction of root feeder nozzle but, instead of a fertilizer capsule, has the additive in the a container located along the hose line. That additive is drawn from the container by the flow of water and passed through the hollow, pointed rod into the soil. Young U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,800 issued Feb. 14, 1967 describes and illustrated a device somewhat similar to that of Synder, but instead of the additive being in a container in the hose line, it is in a separate container and fed by a tube to the control valve at the top of a hollow, pointed rod. Nimrick U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,669 issued Oct. 15, 1968 describes and illustrates a hollow rod, with a pointed end for injecting into the soil, about which rod is mounted a reservoir for holding fertilizer. This reservoir is provided with an aperture to feed fertilizer directly to the hollow rod. An appropriate water control valve controlling water fed to the rod by a hose is mounted at the top of the rod .
All of these devices, while no doubt suitable for the applications for which they were intended, make accurate measurement of the amount of additive placed into the soil very difficult. As well, many of them are difficult to use, and are made of multiple components and consequently are relatively complicated constructions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an applicator device for injecting additives into the soil which permits relatively accurate measurement of the amount of additive fed to the soil. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a device which is made of fewer components and which is relatively easy to operate.